Free Like a Girl will likely close out her fairy tale racing career in Saturday night’s $100,000 Magnolia at Delta Downs.
The $5,500 yearling purchase has earned $2.5 million in her career and is part of a field of eight for the seven-furlong race for fillies and mares bred in Louisiana.
“It’s kind of her last spot before the sale,” co-owner and trainer Chasey Deville-Pomier said.
Free Like a Girl is entered in a high-profile auction Nov. 3 at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington, Ky. The 6-year-old is listed as a racing or broodmare prospect for the fall mixed sale.
The Magnolia is one of two stakes on the first weekend of the 76-date meet at Delta. The $100,000 Gold Cup drew $1.4 million earner Touchuponastar.
Free Like a Girl was recently crowned Louisiana-bred of the year for the second time in her career for a 2024 campaign in which she began taking on some of the top fillies and mares in the country. Free Like a Girl placed in both the Grade 1 La Troienne and Apple Blossom last year, and this spring ran second to Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna in both the Azeri and Apple Blossom.
“We just kind of stepped it up and she seemed to take the challenge on well and whatever we threw at her, she was ready,” Deville-Pomier said. “I do think as a mare now, she’s matured and mentally is so much easier – and just kind of easier on herself.”
Free Like a Girl last raced Sept. 13 and was an uncharacteristic sixth in the Grade 2 Locust Grove over a Churchill Downs surface Deville-Pomier felt she did not handle. Since the race, Free Like a Girl has settled in at Delta. She worked three furlongs in 36.20 seconds on Oct. 3.
“I videoed it and a little tear came to my eye because I know potentially that may be her last work,” Deville-Pomier said. “She worked beautifully.”
Mitchell Murrill has the mount from post 4. Free Like a Girl will be shortening up in distance Saturday.
“It’s seven-eighths, but at Delta it’s two turns, so she seems to like it,” Deville-Pomier said. “Seven-eighths to a mile – a mile for sure – is kind of her sweet spot. She seems to love that, especially over here.”
Free Like a Girl is 7 for 10 at Delta, and overall is 21 for 54. She is looking for her third win in the Magnolia and 20th career stakes win. Deville-Pomier co-owns the daughter of El Deal with Gerald Bruno Jr., Jerry Caroom, and Carl Deville.
The chief threat could be Rising Inflation, who has won her last three starts by a combined margin of 33 lengths. She is unbeaten against Louisiana-breds and is coming off her first stakes win in the $75,000 Louisiana Cup Distaff on Aug. 30 at Louisiana Downs. Rising Inflation won by a half-length, and the Beyer Speed Figure of 83 that she earned is the best last-race number in the Magnolia.
“She was game,” trainer Jonathan Wong said. “She looked beat at the quarter pole, but she kept fighting and dug in and showed a lot of heart.”
Rising Inflation is new to the Louisiana market after starting her career in New York.
“We bought her at the Keeneland horses of racing age sale in April,” Wong said. “She was a Louisiana-bred, and the numbers that she was running in New York were competitive with the numbers that the fillies were running in the Louisiana-bred stakes program. She still had her conditions, and we thought, if she improved some, she’d be able to be competitive in the stakes.”
Isaac Castillo has the mount for Wong, and together the men are winning at a 50 percent rate. Castillo came to Louisiana Downs at the end of August and ended up going 26 for 60 over the final month of the meet for a 43 percent win rate. He will base this winter at Delta and also will ride some in Kentucky, according to his agent, Dylan Fazio.
Wong, who won the training title at Louisiana Downs, said last month he planned to base this winter at Delta. Allen Landry, who won the training title last season at Delta and also this year at Evangeline Downs, is back, as is Delta’s defending leading jockey, Timothy Thornton.
Delta is racing through Feb. 21. First post for most cards will be an earlier 4:45 p.m. Central.
For horseplayers, the track is offering a reduced takeout of 10 percent on all wagers during six special daytime cards in November and December.
“Every wager we offer will be 10 percent takeout on those six days,” track announcer Don Stevens said. “I don’t know of anybody who’s done that.”
Stevens said Delta has received approval for the reduced takeout from the Louisiana Racing Commission. He said it would be offered on the dates of Nov. 25-26, when first post will be 12:55 p.m. Central, and Dec. 22-23 and Dec. 29-30, when first post will be noon Central.
The $2.2 million stakes schedule this meet includes the Louisiana Premier Night card Feb. 7.
◗ The Breeders Sales of Louisiana will put on a yearling and mixed sale Sunday at the Louisiana Equine Sales and Event Center in Opelousas.
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